Who are the 2 witnesses in Revelation 11? We don’t know emphatically who these two are, but some have suggested these are Moses & Elijah. Why?

1 - Their miracles are very familiar! The same types of miracles associated with Moses / Elijah.

2 - They appeared at the Transfiguration, the preview of the 2nd Coming (Matt. 17:3).

3 - They left the earth in unusual ways - Elijah in a chariot of fire (2Kings 2:11-12) and God supernaturally buried Moses in a secret place (Deut. 34:5-6, Jude 9)

BUT… Some say it's Elijah and ENOCH.

Elijah: in Malachi 4:5-6, the last words of OT, God said, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes...

Wait, wasn't John the Baptist the return of Elijah? Not exactly...he came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17), but Jesus said Elijah WILL COME (Matthew 17:11). John the Baptist was ONE fulfillment of that prophecy, but Jesus clearly stated ALSO that Elijah will come.

What about Enoch? Why him? Like Elijah, he also did not die (Hebrews 11:5).

During the 1st 2000 years of history, Adam to Abraham – God dealt with the world as a whole.

During the 2nd 2000 years, Abraham to Christ – God dealt with Israel as the focal point.

-Enoch was taken to heaven during the middle of the 1st 2000 years.

-Elijah was taken to heaven during the middle of the 2nd 2000 years.

It's certainly interesting to think about, but whoever these 2 are, the message in Revelation is clear. These 2 will be key players in the Tribulation. Supernatural power. Killed by the beast. Their deaths celebrated by the world. God has the last laugh as they are resurrected and raptured. Then God puts his exclamation point on it by shaking Jerusalem, destroying a 10th of the city and killing 7,000 people – resulting in people “giving glory to God”, which I believe means they got saved as a result of all this.

I wanted to share this Sunday, as it illustrates what happens to a church that drifts from fulfilling her mission out of sincere love for Christ, His people, and the lost.

Take a couple of minutes and let this sink in:

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was a once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.

Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Some of the new members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea.

So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they re-decorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club.

Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired life boat crews to do this work.

The mission of life-saving was still given lip-service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the life-saving activities personally.

About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people.

They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin, and some spoke a strange language, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal life pattern of the club.

But some members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another life-saving station was founded.

If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, only now most of the people drown.

One of the things that is finished is the threat of facing punishment for our sins. Many Christian men I have personally spoken to have felt like God is still going to punish them someday for their sins, even though these men all claim to know and have received Jesus.

There is a word used 3 times in the Bible that you need to learn: propitiation (Romans 3:25, 1John 2:2, 4:10).

What does this word mean? it means God is satisfied. God looked at the work of Jesus and said, "That's it. That satisfies my justice, my holy requirements, and my wrath. I am 100% appeased because of Jesus."

Jesus' death on the cross, in your place, satisfied God's wrath. God has noneleftfor the one in Jesus. Even when a believer sins, God is not “angry” with them – that would mean God is still viewing us based on our performance. God views the believer based on Christ'sperformance - It is Finished!

I really wanted this in the sermon. It didn't make the cut. So we'll share it here.